The federal government has steadily become more and more involved in elementary and secondary education since 1965. There’s not a shred of evidence that it has helped raise educational performance by students. On the contrary, the steady encroachment of federal regulations and spending in education has coincided with an erosion of the nation’s standing relative to that of our peers around the world.
If the government’s job is merely to provide services, like roads, schools and courts, competition among governmental producers may be as good a discipline as competition among private producers. But if government’s job is also to remedy many of life’s inequities, you may want a stronger centralized government, unchecked by competition.
While driving a rather long distance by car, I recently listened to a great podcast by EconTalk in which Russ Roberts discusses Capitalism and Freedom with Milton Friedman. One particular point in the discussion, I guess, truly deserves a replication:
Issue by issue, it’s easy to make the case for discretion. However, when you see the cumulative effect of going issue by issue, you can really make the case for principles.
A good example is freedom of speech. A lot of Americans would be against freedom of speech if you went issue by issue. And yet we sustain it through enough people believing that it’s a good thing.
With the ECB and Fed increasing money supply, it will not come as a surprise if we observe higher rates of inflation in the years ahead. Thus it is a good idea to have a closer look at the causes and repercussions of inflation. Nobel laureate Milton Friedman has dedicated much of his work to the role of monetary policy and he discussed the issue some years ago:
Inflation is always a monetary phenomenon, a result of too much money.
Governments control the amount of money. As a result, inflation is made in Washington and nowhere else.
Inflation is a form of taxation. If government spends more than it takes in through what is called taxes, it has to meet the difference either by printing money or by borrowing.
Nobel laureate Milton Friedman on the proper role of government in a free society:
There are few more important sources of confusion about the proper role of government in our society than the confusion between the two very different meanings of the word “free”.
Some years ago, Dr. Warren Farrell published a much-debated book called “Why Men Earn More“. At that time he also gave a bunch of interviews that have gained importance now that even the European Union believes it must act.
If men earn a dollar for each 76 cents that women earn for the same work, why would anybody hire a man to do anything?
